As I was without an Internet connection for the past week, I ended up watching a lot of television news. And while hearing about Barack Obama's every move and every analyst's baseless prediction of the day is fun for... well, really not all that long, here are some movies about the news are much more entertaining than trying to figure who among Olbermann, O'Reilly, and Lou Dobbs needs to shut up first.

Broadcast News (1987): Nominated for seven Academy Awards, Broadcast News takes a look at the evolution of television journalism and its shift of focus from quality reporting to getting ratings. The vehicle through which writer/director/producer James L. Brooks presents this shift is a love triangle between Jane Craig (Holly Hunter), a passionate producer who cares deeply about the quality of her reporting; Aaron Altman (Albert Brooks), another devoted reporter who wants to be recognized for his hard work; and Tom Grunick (William Hurt), a good-looking new guy who is able to work his way up the ladder of promotion, despite his total lack of knowledge or journalistic skill. As significant changes happen at the network, the relationships between the three reach a climax, allowing the film to shed light on the way news media has shifted today.

Several Bwog editors retrieved the passwords of their middle school AIM screen names and entered a chatroom to discuss Todd Haynes' new Dylan "biopic" I'm Not There. Heath Ledger was taken down a notch, David Cross was lauded, and Yorkie avatars were chosen.

Today's Yorkie Roundtable features:

Armin Rosen

Andrew Flynn

Maryam Parhizkar

Lucy Tang

Juli Weiner

Esteemed School of the Arts professor James Schamus received the Venice Film Festival top award, the Golden Lion, for Lust, Caution. The duo saw previous accolades with Brokeback Mountain, which also won the Golden Lion. Directed by Ang Lee and produced and co-written by Schamus, Lust, Caution piggybacks on Brokeback Mountain's sexual frankness, garnering the film a NC-17 rating.

It sees the U.S. release on September 28th, 2007, just two more weeks to go!

As Rush Hour 3 and Stardust and the like trudge turgidly out of theaters, autumn brings a breath of fresh air. Fresh, Oscar-baity air. Bwog cineastes Daniel D'Addario, Jamie Johns, and Christian Kamongi are here to help you say yes to Coens, Cronenberg, and Clayton, and no to Alvin and the Chipmunks.

September

The Brave One (September 14): When I first heard about The Brave One, I assumed it was a sequel to The Accused, Jodie Foster's first film about a rape victim out for revenge. If Jodie Foster and Neil Jordan want to actually redeem their careers after the duds that were Flightplan and pretty much everything Neil Jordan has directed since The Crying Game, it's going to have to be a lot more than that. I'm hoping that it actually is a provocative look at one woman's struggle to overcome the shock of sexual assault through violence, as the trailers have been telling me it will be. -Jamie Johns

Eastern Promises (September 14): David Cronenberg has been described as North America's foremost narrative filmmaker and if his newest feature is even half as explosive and revelatory as his previous masterpiece, A History of Violence, then it's a must-see. The sense of uncontrollable doom and macabre textures that characterized A
History of Violence (and Cronenberg's whole ingenious oeuvre) seem to be at play in this thriller starring Naomi Watts as a nurse who may be unknowingly digging her own grave as she dares to unravel the mystery of a young woman's murder. Oh, and did I mention that Armin Mueller-Stahl, Vincent Cassel, and Viggo Mortensen play members of the Russian mob, casting decisions that may be enough to ensure expectations of pure terror. -Christian Kamongi